Before the Storm
by legillimens
Summary: Yes it's the Marauders again, yes It's been done but the Marauders really are the best aren't they? Love, lust and the repercussions of life. The last year will go down in legend. Watch out for the explosive ending!
1. Labour of love

Author's notes: O. K so it may be a little slow to get off the ground but I assure you that once the action kicks in it's really quite a good bit of stuff - even if I do say so myself!

Disclaimer: All (or nearly all) characters within are the formulation and property of J.K. Rowling and I haven't got one scrap of permission to use them.

Before the Storm

The warm rays of the sun rose and dispersed the clouds of mist that had hovered over the castle for many days before. This difference was evident from a glance at the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall as the light lit up the faces of those below it. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter took seats at the middle of the Griffindor table for breakfast, hurriedly discussing something under their breath. Their quick tone and frequent glances at the Slytherin table drew the attention of a pretty, green-eyed, fellow seventh year. When she reached the four boys she quickly sat down opposite them and, before any could say a word either in protest or welcome, she began to accost them in turn. The hum of conversation was quenched instantly. "And what are you lot playing at then?" She shot at them, giving Sirius in particular, a look of disgust.

"Planning? Us? You know we never plan anything, Evans." Sirius replied coolly "It just...sort of happens!"

Lily, giving up this target and instead spotting a weak point, diverted her attentions to the next boy.

"James?" She questioned, but with a noticeably softer tone than before.

"Ahh Lily!" James replied "You know I've always had a soft spot for your questionings!" He smiled. "And that's why I'm telling you that..." James paused. Sirius seemed to hold his breath for a few moments before ... "Sirius is correct in saying that we're up to _absolutely_ _nothing_." Sirius and Peter grinned. Lupin and Lily frowned.

Noticing this, he then added in an apologetic tone, "Sorry," But this appeared to be ignored. Lily, looking both angry and as though she expected nothing more from them, rose and moved down the table to rejoin her friends.

"You know" James began, with his eyes fixed on the back of Lily's head "I think she's finally warming to me"

"Yeah," said Sirius. A few moments later he could be heard, muttering in an undertone "very, _very_ slowly!"

"What'd you say, Padfoot?" James questioned instantly.

"Huh?" Sirius replied with an obviously fake air of ignorance "_Oh_! I was just saying that, in a few decades she might even look you in the eye once in a while!" He replied sarcastically with a certain sparkle in his eye.

"What're you talking about?" James pressured, including a hand movement of placing two fingers to his eyes and then to an invisible person infront of him to demonstrate exactly how much eye contact he had received from Lily Evans.

"It's not so much this" said Sirius mimicking him "but this" and Sirius placed his head so far forward that his nose and his dark mop of hair nearly became contaminated by the jam spread thickly onto his toast. It reminded James of another Hogwarts student's actions in the O.W.L exams two years previously. Faced with this, James didn't know whether to hex or hug Sirius and his confusion showed on his face. "If anything, Padfoot, that only increases my suspicions." He finally replied, a certain amount of power depicted in his voice. Due to the seriousness of this remark, Sirius thought it best not to argue for once.

Remus rolled his eyes at them both and then returned to his boiled egg. This didn't go unnoticed as James said cheerfully: "Anyway my dear Moony - just two weeks till full moon!" Remus began to make a series of hushing noises, his eyes fixed on a figure walking infront of him. These failed to gain any effect over the other three's debates on the future events of this full moon however, and Remus was forced to resort to "Bloody hell! It's a wonder anything's kept secret with you lot! So will you _shut up_?" to silence them. He added, due to their piercing looks, in a vain attempt to restore peace."At least until we're somewhere quieter." The four became deadly silent in response to this rare outburst, which was finally broken by James.

"Chip on your shoulder, Moony?" he asked quite light-heartedly, however.

"Yeah, somethin' you wanna discuss?" Sirius added.

"No ... nothing" Remus replied, staring at his empty plate. "We'd better go..."

"Yeah, suppose we had" said James, glancing around the room at large spaces at each of the four tables. "It's getting a bit quiet here."

The four stood up near enough in one motion, slung their bags over their backs and made their way out of the Great Hall and to Transfiguration where they received a long and detailed talk on the importance of the upcoming N.E.W.Ts and the need to 'study at every opportunity,' as Professor McGonagall put it. After an hour or so of this they emerged, bleary eyed, in to the corridor.

"There was no need for_ that_!" James exclaimed, whilst repeatedly blinking to readjust his eyes to the bright light of his new surroundings.

"Yeah, we don't exactly need reminding daily" added Remus "My memory's perfectly fine, thanks."

The all smiled but James more so as he saw, further down the corridor, something to interest him. Lily was walking towards him - and better than that- perfectly alone."Meet you back in the common room" he said dreamily to anyone that was listening. "See you later, Wormtail" and he sped after Lily who had just disappeared behind a tapestry."Can I walk you anywhere, Lily?"She jumped but soon regained herself when she saw who had caused it.

"Well...after six years of being here I think I can find my way around" Lily replied, catching his eye and seeing the odd expression that had appeared on his face "but you can walk _with_ me if you like..."

"Great! Where we off to,"a great positive change now engulfing his face.

"Library - I've got a free now and Flitwick has given us homework already."

"Can't be that hard though" James said boldly "I mean it _is_ only Charms."

"Charms it may be Potter, but we're doing some pretty advanced wand movements lately! Anyway...when did I ever say it was hard?"

When she called James 'Potter' these days he knew Lily was serious - or irritated - so he apologised, but only half-heartedly as the idea of 'complicated wand movements' was laughable to him. However, to Lily this apology seemed a great achievement and she grinned - but only so as James wouldn't notice.

After half an hour of watching her work Lily took pity on James and suggested that they return to the common room for a break, as much for her sake than his, because she wasn't sure that she could take any more of his staring at her. James agreed strongly, thankful for anything to ease his boredom, and they were soon passing through the portrait hole of the Griffindor common room. Despite his better attempts to ignore them, James and Lily were forced to sit by the fire with Sirius and Remus. This was due to Sirius' repeated shouts of "Hey! Over here! Prongs! Ja-a-mes OVER HERE!" James tried to look as if he hadn't heard and, when he had weaved himself through the many chairs and tables of the room, gasped "Oh, sorry Padfoot, didn't here you." It seemed that he hadn't managed to quite convince Remus with this who looked at him apologetically. James returned this with a look of desperacy.

"You must be gettin' deaf in your old age, Prongs" Sirius joked. "So ... How are you, Evans?" He added with a decided effort.

"Err ... Fine thanks." Replied Lily, a little amazed at this sudden hospitality. For years Sirius had practically refused to accept that she was alive. She wasn't the only one as James showed when Lily had left after a few more minutes of this kindness, mentioning something about 'needing to finish that Charms essay.'

"You feeling all right Sirius?" James questioned, and Remus let out a small snigger that was hidden swiftly behind his copy of '_The Prophet' _and a rustling of paper.

"Just smashing." Sirius replied with a puzzled expression.

"Only I thought that - with you talking like that - that er-"

"Like _what_?" Sirius interjected.

"Hi Lily! How _are_ you, Lily? Oh _good_ Lily, yes Lily, no Lily ... Can I lick your shoes Lily?" James mocked.

"Oh haha! Well. If you must know, I thought that after your sudden - er - 'closeness' I'd better - you know - at least recognise she's there ..."

"You did that, alright!" James grinned. "But do me a favour and tone it down a bit or she'll start to think your coming onto her!"

Sirius smiled to himself. "She wishes!" He said smoothly, sinking further into his armchair.

"No I don't think she does, really" protested James, running his hand through his hair to make his appearance more 'desirable.' Remus closed his paper and looked from one to the other "I think your both wrong," he ventured, sitting up in his chair and barely concealing a smirk "it's me she wants really!" For his cheek he received two carefully aimed cushions, one after the other, full in the face. Remus tried to regain his composure.

"Nope, definitely me" finished James, glancing at the portrait hole where he had moments ago seen Lily Evans vanish.


	2. Confessions

The first week of Hogwarts passed slowly by with no great incident. The Marauders even refrained from attacking Snape as often as they used to but all were certain that this calm would not last much longer. They were becoming restless and James and Sirius in particular itched for some sort of action. However, with time spare from when he would usually be hexing Snape, James could afford to spend more time with Lily and it was gradually becoming clear to him that something had changed in Lily's view of him over summer. Or perhaps it had been him that had changed? But either way the fact that James was no longer displaying his skills by regular use of _tarantallegra _put something in his favour to Lily.

"This is getting bloody ridiculous!" Moaned Remus, slamming a rather large pile of books onto the table infront of James and Sirius in one of their regular frees the following week. With Wormtail currently residing in a Charms classroom somewhere the four, as was quite common now, was reduced to three.

"I've got three _eighteen_ inch essays and a test on 'The uses and _political opinions_ of the uses of fleisgrout within the United Kingdom as the main ingredient in tissue healing potions.' I mean I can't say it let alone _do_ it! What the hell is the point in that?"

"You got me Moony," grinned Sirius. "To bore and prevent the population of Hogwarts from doing anything remotely interesting ever again?" he attempted.

"Probably" muttered Remus, ignoring the obvious efforts Sirius had put into that sentence and instead staring, disheartedly, at the rolls of parchment and the pot of ink infront of him as if willing them to do his homework for him.

"We _could_ ... just ... not do it." James suggested, cautiously. "Yeah, O.K, I know!" He responded to Remus' dark look. "It's seventh year and if we don't do our homework we'll all end up selling poorly made potions off a cart in Hogsmede - I get it!"

"Speak for yourself" said Sirius quickly. "_My_ potions won't be poorly made!"

James smiled but it faded quickly. "Suppose we'd better get started then..." He suggested, fully unenthusiastically.

Half way through his third sentence something that appeared to interest Remus intensely in the corner of the common room caught his eye and nothing he, or anyone else could do, could divert it back to his parchment. Sirius had also given up, his reason merely being pure boredom, and, whilst looking for something to entertain himself with, found the spot which Remus was giving his full attention to. This spot consisted of a curly, dark haired girl and a tall, well-built boy who Sirius immediately recognised as being the Griffindor beater for the past three years, Michael Calaughal. They were deep in conversation over by one of the rooms many arched windows.

"Isn't that er ... Delling?" Sirius asked of Remus tentatively.

"Wha- ? Oh ... er - _her_?" Lupin said and Sirius noticed his cheeks flush just enough to tell him that he was correct in believing what he did. "Yeah. Raven Delling - I _think_." Remus faked. He knew perfectly well who she was.

"Yeah, thought so." Sirius said, a smile flitting across his face.

"I - I wasn't sta- looking at _her. _I was er - just checking out the weather - Quiddich tryouts soon and all."

"Sure Moony. Speaking of tryouts ... James who were you thinking of picking?"

"Dunno. Haven't seen 'em all play yet, have I?" He said, scanning the common room for future stars of the Quiddich pitch.

"Yeah but you should have an idea though. Lots of responsibility, Prongs!" Sirius winked and James knew exactly what he meant by it.

"You know there's a lot more power to abuse with being Head Boy than being Quiddich Captain," he hinted.

"And I expect that neither will be tapped into, James." Came a voice from behind him.

"Heya Lily!" James grinned, turning his whole body around in his chair to meet her.

"It's my reputation as well as yours now, James. Being Head Girl is supposed to give me some kind of authority over you, so you can't just go around abusing power!" She said, a stony seriousness flooding over her face.

"Well, for a start there isn't much power to abuse! I'm not exactly Minister for Magic, am I?" He questioned. "And even if I was ... " He trailed off, completely forgetting his point as he looked into Lily's enquiring eyes. He couldn't lie to her anymore, no more than he could risk things between them. "You can trust me." he added eventually, completely forgetting that, within current company, these words would never be forgotten and used to torment him for years to come. Sirius looked stunned that his friend owned such sincerity but immediately started to formulate, within his head, a million and one witty comments to bombard James with after Lily's departure. Sadly, he wasn't given the chance to put these to good use as, when Lily finally did leave for bed, James too decided that he was extremely tired and withdrew to take a bath before heading up to their dormitory. When Sirius drew himself away from the warm fire of the common room and drifted off to bed James was to be found, already fast asleep, enclosed in a multitude of blankets and so Sirius' onslaught would be forced to wait until the morning.

The next morning the four rose for breakfast in the same dreamy, sluggish way that they had done for the past ten days. It appeared now that there was no real point in getting up in the morning as there was no real fun to be had at Hogwarts anymore. Any attempt to terrorise Snape, or anyone else, had to either be first provoked or conducted a safe way away from Lily to maintain any chance of James and her getting together. At certain times when Lily witnessing these events was unavoidable, the expression of contempt upon her face was enough to tell James that this was not the way to go with her - if he didn't know this already! Lily was unlike other girls in this way and James had always known this. The dozens of girls surrounding James were easily impressed by a few hexes here and there and would flock to his feet. Lily, on the other hand hated this, would try to stop him at any given chance and used to avoid him at any cost. It was this that first attracted him to her. No-one, let alone Sirius, understood this.

Battles weren't the only thing to be restricted. Any time that they were left to believe their own was irrefutably taken up by a mass of homework. The average work load, Remus calculated, was six pieces a week and none argued that this was at all exaggerated. Remus was working the hardest out of all of them and Sirius couldn't help but suspect that this was only to distract himself from something else (or some_one_ else ) that kept playing on his mind. He wondered exactly how long he'd felt that way, what that was and exactly what he was planning to do about it but never dared breach the subject with him. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing you talked about to Moony; but that didn't stop him wanting to.

This subject perhaps made Remus the most gloomy of all the Marauders. With Raven everything seemed to be a problem, the major one being the fact that he had been a werewolf since he was a child. This was, in the mildest terms, a bit of a turn off. The idea that your boyfriend turns into an uncontrollable murderous beast once a month isn't usually desirable. This was an old problem though, one that he had got used to and had accounted for within the realms of dating. However, this was matched with the fact that Raven appeared to be getting decidedly close to Calaughal which meant that his chances were narrowing day-by-day, as weak as they already were. These factors combined gave Remus a decided air of no hope.

They went down into the Great Hall for breakfast together, each lost in his own thoughts and contemplation's. The buzz of the hall as they entered it, with it's lively conversation and clattering of cutlery, seemed to alert them back to the present for now.

The first visitor to their seats was someone familiar to them all and one in particular. Michael Calaughal strode up to them gallantly, brushing his long blonde fringe out of his eyes. He greeted James happily with "Hey! How ya doing, Potter?" This one sentence made Remus' stomach churn. The fact that he could be so happy was the worst of all omens and he soon found himself burning a hole into the side of Calaughal's neck with his, now piercing, eyes. "I just wondered if you'll be doing tryouts soon - It's nearly a fortnight and-"

Yeah I'll post the date later" James said "I've just been a bit busy ..." Remus found great pleasure in James cutting Calaughal off mid-sentence and his face formed a grim smile.

"Don't like him much do ya, Moony?" James turned to Remus after he had watched Calaughal safely down to the other end of the table.

"I just think he's a bit-"

"I don't like him either," interrupted Peter. "He's a bit arrogant."

"Well I dunno what you must think of us then, Wormtail!" Sirius laughed.

Peter looked quite shocked at this and stuttered "I - I think your-"

"I didn't mean for you to give us a confession of love, Wormtail! Honestly!" Peter flushed but said nothing more.

"You could just hex him, Remus!" Sirius suggested, turning suddenly to face Remus.

"Being as big as that it'd be the fall that killed him," said James, jerking his head down the table at the Griffindor beater.

"What makes you think I want to kill him?"

"_C'mon. _You want Raven don't you?" Sirius demanded, thinking it best to make it quick and painless.

"R-Raven?" Blurted out Remus "why-?" He saw the looks on his friends faces and decided instantly that it was pointless in carrying on. They knew. "Yeah, I do" he confessed, displaying his true degree of misery in every syllable. "But it's not just that," he said, like James jerking his head at his rival "I'm a ... you know," he said as he glanced around them, nervously.

"It's only once a month!" James protested.

"Shh! Once a month's enough!" Remus whispered in reply.

"But she wouldn't have to know. You could reignite some of the old excuses," James chuckled.

"Ferlious mumps" Sirius mouthed and James, Sirius and Wormtail burst into fits of laughter. Remus looked at them loathingly but carried on, choosing to ignore them.

"She'd find out sooner or later. You lot did," Remus said, raising his voice to try and compete with so as, by the word 'did,' he was practically shouting. "For God's sake. It's a _real_ condition," he pleaded. "For the last time ... My Great Aunt Edaran had it!"

"That's - what - makes it - worse!" James gasped and the raucous of laughter reached an even higher note. Remus came to the conclusion that it was not the time for this sort of conversation and gave up, vowing to bring up his concerns later.

When the laughter had subsided they stood up to leave. While James was searching in his bag he made the foolish mistake of asking Wormtail to hold his copy of "Advanced Potion making" and gave Sirius the opportunity of quoting "But James, _you can trust me_!" In a matter of second Sirius was once again in tears of laughter that echoed around the room. James put his books back in his bag and left for Potions with a rather disgruntled look. He had hoped that Sirius had forgotten about this in the mayhem.


	3. Moonshine

The full moon arrived in all it's splendour. The build up to it was a little more heightened than usual. All plans had been made for the hours that the moon would cast it's eerie glow over the land and James, Sirius and Wormtail were all on edge, awaiting the event that would turn Hogwarts away from dullness and back to greatness. Remus, in comparison, was going through his usual phase of nervousness and kept issuing 'what if's' at each of them. They had become quite used to hearing this every month at the proposal of new plans and so responded only when it seemed necessary to Remus' sanity.

"But it's going to be a clear night and-"

"We've done it a thousand times before!" James said, wearily.

"I'm only saying that it's a long time to guard me without a break and if you get distracted-"

"You'd think you'd be used to this by now."

Remus simply looked at him, neither angrily or in defeat, in fact it was thoughtfully. "It's lucky it fell on a Saturday he said at last, "I don't much feel like getting up early tomorrow." James grinned at him. "That's more like it!" He smiled, "me neither."

They heard someone outside the portrait hole give the password, 'fuzzle-wuzzle' (seemingly she liked the way it sounds) and they all sprang into action. James had wrapped his invisibility cloak around himself in a split second, the silvery lining whirling and rippling before disappearing like it's owner. He once again opened the folds of the cloak, motioning for Sirius and Wormtail to join him. They dived across the room and under the cloak. All three vanished with another of James' quick movements and Remus was left looking quite alone as the portrait hole opened to reveal Madame Pomfrey.

"Come along Mr Lupin." She said, calling him to her to avoid the indignity of having to clamber into the room. Remus glanced behind him, as he always did, to where his friends had just been standing. He noticed something which they obviously did not and whispered out of the corner of his mouth "Ankles," his eyes still fixed on Madame Pomfrey as he snaked his way towards her around the many chairs. James and Sirius crouched slightly, they being the tallest, and the cloak once again skimmed the floor. Once Remus and Madame Pomfrey had left and enough time had been given for their departure from the corridor, they moved clumsily out of the room and followed their path down to the Whomping Willow. They stood in a patch of short grass a little way away from their friend and off the path that Madame Pomfrey had just walked so as not to attract suspicion by bumping into her as she travelled back that way in a few moments. They saw her prod the knot in the tree. Remus entered the tunnel underneath and the tree immediately sprang back to life. Madame Pomfrey turned on her heel and headed back up to the castle, a shawl tightly wrapped around her shoulders. It was now safe to move again. Wormtail immediately took his animagus form, no need for a prompt as the routine was effortless. He landed with a small 'thud' onto the ground and sped, weaving between the blades of grass, towards the tree. When he reached his destination the small brown mouse leapt up onto it's hind legs and patted the knot as he had done many times before. The tree's branches, which had just been thrashing about in a wildly random motion, stopped so completely that it looked as though it had been stupefied. James dropped the cloak and shoved it into a crevasse underneath a particularly large root of the tree for safe keeping until their return. Sirius glanced up at the sky. Magenta clouds filled the air - Remus' weather report way wrong. He smiled to himself (he loved to be right), picked up Wormtail, placed him into his robe pocket and then slid himself into the passageway that ran underneath the Willow. James followed. They emerged at the end of a tunnel running deep into the earth. Sirius had emptied Wormtail from his pocket and placed him onto the ground beside his feet when they were met by James. He and Sirius gave each other one last look before they were replaced by a large black dog and a noble stag. They bounded down the gently narrowing tunnel, Wormtail trailing slightly behind.

They emerged into a a large dusty room. Every piece of rotting furniture within it had teeth marks engraved into it, some so much so that all that remained was a pile of menacing splinters. These were illuminated by a series of shafts of moonlight which were unhindered by the clumsy boards tacked up against the windows and so they spilled imposingly into the building. The room was filled with a piercing scream that rebound off the Shrieking Shack's tired walls. Standing in the middle of the floor was Remus, his back bent double as he screamed and screamed and screamed. He stumbled towards the mantle piece and grasped it in an attempt to steady himself. His knuckles turning white as he struggled to hold on in his murderous pain. It coursed through his body, erupting into a multitude of dark bristly fur all over him. It was in this way that the others found him. They bounded out of the tunnel and stood at the perimeter of the room, eyeing Remus warily. He heard all of this, his now animalistic ears, pivoting to concentrate on their steps, tracking them. He turned slowly, his chest rising and falling heavily. His piercing yellow eyes narrowed. Through these nothing human remained, no soul of conscience. They were fixed on them so fiercely that they only appeared as flashing slits in the darkness. The transformation was complete. Remus was no longer a 'he' but an 'it.'

It pounced, fangs bared. They anticipated it. Sirius leapt on the werewolf and seized it by the neck in his jaws. All sympathy was blown from their minds for Remus. This was too dangerous a game to be kind - anything went. Padfoot and Prongs set about getting it in line. After a struggle of force and wits the werewolf was temporarily calmed. Each side was affected but the losing one thankfully a little more so. They headed towards the door, one werewolf flanked by two beasts.

The sky was a deep, dusky blue as they quit the Shrieking Shack and a peace that would soon be disrupted radiated from the area around them. The werewolf sniffed the air as though it were now glad to have escaped the dusty confinement of his previous dwelling. Prongs was by no means as relaxed as this and continued to look about wearily for any possible victims of his friend's fangs. The werewolf and his guard proceeded down the steep bank of the Shrieking Shack's mount. The town was dark and deserted as the days were drawing in and apart from the Inns at the other side of town there was nothing much to amuse the people of Hogsmede. They crept down the path and to the strip of scattered houses that separated the hills from the town. They walked slowly (Wormtail carried upon Padfoot's back), guarding their fellow oddity with one eye and with the other searching for possible adventure spots. This second task appeared harder than the first at this moment in time as a strange stupor had seemed to have overtaken their werewolf friend. Every path they walked they had walked once before and fun looked to be hiding from them. It was beginning to annoy Padfoot. This was clear from the frustrated growl that was emitted from his muzzle every few minutes. They stopped, sighting a cave in a familiar mountain that they had not seen before. The reason perhaps being of it's carefully placed situation the rock that from far away could easily deceive them. This was to be today's place of revelry. They stopped and Padfoot strode ahead to investigate, leaving Prongs alone with their charge. The werewolf, however shattered his intellect, saw the opportunity facing him. He leapt on Prongs, teeth bared, all effort invested into his escape. It clawed at the stag, swiping it's talons this way and that, furiously trying to reach warm flesh to score, to gash, to _bite_ it. Though it was fierce however, for the moment it was foolish as it had attacked James from the front. Due to this and this alone he was able to raise it up on his horns and, with effort, toss it along the ground. Warm blood dripped from Prongs' side as Sirius sprang from the innermost sanctuary of the cave. Prongs turned to meet him. Within this split second was when the werewolf gained his true advantage. It leapt to it's feet and shot out into the field through which they had just passed, running for freedom, running for blood.

Sirius saw it and gave one immense bark before jetting after it, almost tripping over his paws in his haste. Prongs snorted which, translated to English, meant "Shit!" He reared around and set off at full speed. Sirius and James were now hunting the stray down. James soon gained the lead over Sirius, his hooves better suited to the muddy clay of the field than Padfoot's paws, and ran up behind the werewolf as he was clambering down the road on all fours. It's blazing yellow eyes were fixed on a small cottage directly infront of it. It's windows splayed a warm glow of yellow light onto the pavement. It was completely unsuspecting of the demon that approached it. James bent his neck. He charged at it, his horns colliding with the square of it's back and it lurched forwards before crumpling to the ground. They approached it cautiously. It didn't move. Sirius nudged it in the ribs with his nose. It still didn't move. They couldn't wait here any longer so Padfoot carefully grasped his mouth around it's arm and they began to drag it back together.

The next morning after no sleep at all Sirius, Wormtail and James ran anxiously up to the hospital wing. The night before they had been forced to leave Remus back at the Shrieking Shack. It was their only choice. They had checked his injuries as best they could and left him. If they brought Remus to the hospital wing themselves all kinds of questions would be asked and anyway, they had and agreement; this was the way it had to be.

They burst through the doors unceremoniously and searched the beds for their injured friend. They were empty. James opened his mouth to scream, confess, hex himself, whatever he could do to stem the flow of guilt and sadness, when Sirius noticed something in the corner of the room. He ran over to it without a word. The curtains were drawn around a bed but no noise issued from it. He couldn't even hear it's occupant breathing. He wrenched the curtains back to reveal Remus, asleep on the bed. He smiled at his unconscious body, able to breathe again. When they saw the expression on Sirius's face the fogs that had engulfed James and Wormtail's minds too cleared and they ran to meet this fortunate werewolf.

"Five minutes!" Madame Pomfrey called over from her door. She had been blatantly disturbed by their rough entrance. "And I'd be extremely thankful if you did not abuse my door like that in future! I was trying to concentrate. I suppose Professor McGonagall informed you?"

They all nodded subconsciously to her inquiry as they positioned seats around Remus' bed and agreed at a whisper that this had been a _definite_ close one.


	4. Attempts and Failures

It only cost Remus two days in the hospital wing before Madame Pomfrey cleared him for release, though, as always, grudgingly. She deduced that something with great force behind it had caused his injuries but what there was in the Shrieking Shack that was capable of this she had no idea. The conclusion was finally drawn that, in his suffering or transformation, he must have thrown himself against a chair or table or another item of furniture and by these means knocked himself unconscious. There had been other injuries like this; this must have been the case. This was her train of thought towards this mystery.

So at precisely nine thirty-two p.m. Remus entered the common room. He had a decidedly different posture now. One shoulder sat slightly further than the other and he walked with a sad limp. His face was still bruised in places where Madame Pomfrey's liberal dabbings of potion obviously hadn't reached, his expression unchangeable from a miserly grimace. The impression created was heroic and meaningful. Sirius knew he was making the most of it, acting on a point.

He had personally asked Madame Pomfrey for any ill-effects from his little 'accident' and she had replied clearly and concisely "No." There was a bit more to it than this but Sirius was quite content with the first syllable than to concern himself with listening to any more. He wanted to laugh at him but with the room as full as this he would surely come across the villain. Over the past two years he had become increasingly concerned with being admired (well at least by the Griffindors). Therefore, he settled instead upon a stretch of sarcastically tainted concern. This plan usually worked for him in a crisis and it wouldn't be at all surprising if a certain number of students recognised him purely by this wit.

"I see your feeling- _ahem_ - better" Sirius coughed. "I don't remember us breaking your leg though!" He stared wisely at Remus' leg which was resting rather tentatively a little off the floor as he positioned all of his weight onto his right.

"Sprained it." He uttered in reply, rotating his head alternately to James who was now grinning wildly at Sirius, implying that he too couldn't remember this incident. Remus was saved the explanation of his obtaining this injury by a fortunate event. Raven was currently weaving her way towards him through the crowd. He saw her and froze. Even if his leg was in perfect condition he didn't think that he could even gain control over a toe now. After many attempts to at least stand up straight he gave up. She had finally reached him.

"Hey!" She greeted him, "er - what happened to you, Remus? Are you O.K?"

He swallowed, his throat felt like sandpaper and he thought that she must notice how hoarse and croaky he sounded as he spoke.

"Yeah. I - I - I got into a bit of a duel." He said trying to rearrange his face to fit his words. He thought that that this would make him sound the best in the short time in which he was given to fabricate it, after all it was _partly _true, but as soon as it was spoken he regretted it. It would take allot of work to keep this lie up. The sound of Sirius and Peter choking over their pumpkin juice in the background didn't exactly add to the idea that this was a known truth either.

"Really?" Raven asked, her eyes glistening at the concept of Remus getting into a fight, "who with?"

"Er ..." His mind was whirring at an immense speed, searching for a name. James took one look at him in his distress and decided to put him out of his misery.

"It was with Ivan Mannin." He interrupted, "from Hufflepuff. You know him! No? He said something very insulting about Rem's family and so he had to do it, didn't he? Honour and all!" Mannin was the most suitable person he could think of. He was strong but not too strong so as Remus couldn't teach him a lesson. He was also not that well known out of Hufflepuff so the chances that Raven could check up on him were slim, and even if she did some injuries could easily be arranged for him. "You've gotta teach me that hex remember? 'Cos when he-" He burst into a raucous of false laughter and patted Remus heartily on the back, forgetting his injuries.

Remus had never before in his life been so thankful for James' ability to create intricate and speedy lies. He was a life saver in every way. "Yeah ... I have." He said, looking at Raven for a sign of her acceptance of this story or otherwise.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway ... As long as your alright," she flushed. She was obviously keen to keep up a good impression with Remus because the look of mingled surprise and intrigue on her face more than contradicted her words. She lingered silently for a while around him obviously keen for more conversation but as James had thought his job done and turned away and Remus was once again tongue tied she received nothing. She moved away after smiling a goodbye to him and rejoined her group. She left Remus with a glazed look over his eyes which were focussed in a misty way upon what James discerned as being the corner of a picture frame belonging to a very disgruntled pair of maidens who obviously thought that he was staring directly at them.

After watching this for a while and occasionally trying to wake Remus from this stupor, James left them to go and talk to Lily. Two weeks of regular meetings and chats in corridors and classes meant that when he suddenly decided to impose on Lily's time like this he was now welcomed instead of rebuffed. They could even be said to have become friends. Understandably there was still a long way to go before James could come anywhere close to daring to ask her out again, but progress is progress. He sauntered up behind and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

Although she didn't really appreciate being interrupted mid-conversation she still smiled broadly at James.

"So; how are you?" He asked, searching for a topic as he had come over completely unprepared and with no real reason but to see her.

"Perfectly healthy!" She smiled. "You?"

"Good." This was getting to be one of those awkward kind of chats and both wanted out of it to ease the humiliation. However, neither consented to its end. "Had a good day?" He continued, still searching.

"It was O.K I suppose, not really exciting though is it, listening to Slughorn drone on about the wonderful influence he had over the head of the Misuse of Magic Department and continually telling me that I should have joined Slytherin!" She said brushing her fiery red hair away from her face in exhaustion.

"Yeah I love his little talks!" James winked. "I'm sure if I were there I would have made it more interesting for you !" He tested.

"Maybe so!" She giggled, looking into his eyes. "You never can tell what will make something interesting!" They continued to look at each other for a moment and then James opened his mouth to ask her something.

"Lily-"

"How were the Quiddich trials?" She cut across him. He felt sure that she knew what he was going to say. She obviously didn't want it to be - yet.

"Oh - they were great." He said as he recovered. "We managed to get a good team this year. There's Lucas, Ratch and Hedgely for chasers; Reise and Calaughal for beaters (despite Moony's hatred)-"

"He hates Calaughal?" Lily asked in amazement.

"Yeah but he has his reasons. Why are you so shocked?" He questioned curiously. He didn't like the sound of her voice when she had asked that.

"I've never known Remus to hate _anyone_!" She continued in the same tone of voice. James was relieved and sat back comfortably into his chair. "He's capable of it!" He smiled. We've got Segedun as keeper and oh- me as seeker, obviously," he concluded. He was keen to keep up the conversation and was even more eager because it was about something that he could talk about for hours.

"Segedun's good but his reactions are sometimes a bit slow." Lily commented.

"I didn't think you knew anything about Quiddich!"

"Oh the things you don't know about!" She teased "I know about a lot of things that you don't think I do."

"I believe it! His reaction's aren't that bad after all! The fact that he can fly let him beat the others. They were hopeless!"

They talked for at least an hour about all of the things that James didn't know about. At first, Lily's friend, Imogen Hayes looked only slightly upset that she was interrupted by James' visit. After half an hour of being ignored however, without a word to either of them, she actually got up and left. Soon after this Lily's attention was commanded by a needy friend and her Defence Against the Dark Arts essay and James was forced to leave her. He returned to his previous corner of the room. When he got there his attention was immediately grabbed by two people who were standing by the wall. He was surprised that they could stand at all from the fury of their kissing. He had to admit that Sirius was really going for it this time and Imogen wasn't any the less crazy.

James sat down next to Remus and they both stared at the unusual couple in astonishment.

"How long have they-?" James asked.

"Couple of minutes." Remus shrugged "I didn't know he knew her ..."

"Me neither. I think he must now her fairly well by now - her mouth at least!" James laughed, finally turning away from the scene and to Remus. "He can't keep doing this - one girl after the other."

"You did it." Remus uttered quietly.

"I _did_, but now I know that it's pointless."

"Yeah 'cos you've got a chance with Lily now; but he doesn't care about anyone so he's stayed exactly the same."

"It isn't that bad I suppose. It's not like he's on Firewhiskey every night. It's just kissing." James said, reversing his point.

"I suppose" said Remus, once again looking at Sirius and Imogen. He watched Sirius sit down and then Imogen sit on his lap. "But it won't be good if one day all these girls catch up with him."

After more kissing on their part and discussion on their friends, Imogen left for bed. By this time James, Remus and Peter would not have been at all surprised if Sirius hadn't followed her. Instead he went and sat down at a small table near them, wiping his black locks out of his face and to one side. He looked as if all he had done for the past half an hour was read a book. He looked bored.

"You were very enthusiastic." James said with the air of commenting on someone's flying at a Quiddich match.

"Yeah well, it's been a couple of weeks," he replied monotonously.

James laughed, a bellowing laugh which made Sirius smile from under his heavy black eyebrows. He leant back on his chair in a marvellous display of balance, resting his hands behind his neck. Apparently he was pleased at this sort of appraisal that James had shown him. Wormtail joined in but Remus' brows narrowed and he stared cautiously at Sirius, darting him a look of warning. He was sure that one day he would find himself in immense trouble because of his behaviour. Sirius didn't care, trouble was easily evaded.


	5. The Hunt

Remus rushed into the common room as the others were again attempting to complete another batch of homework. His face was red and his light brown hair ruffled so much it resembled a haystack. He leapt towards them, overturning chairs in his haste and provoking a large group of fifth-years who suddenly found him treading unceremoniously treading over their work. He dodged a number of hexes fired at him and around him items of furniture erupted into boils and turned purple. A particularly nasty hex reduced a chair that Remus' leg had just been on top of into cinders. Anyone would have thought that this was the Slitherin's room. He flew into a chair which the other way so that its' back shielded him. He kept his head covered as he gasped

"She-she asked me-"

"Raven?" Sirius asked, not letting him finish. Remus nodded.It seemed a bit of a melodramatic way of telling them that they were finally a couple but they all smiled and spoke encouragingly.

"That's great!" James exclaimed.

"Yeah, nice one, Moony."

A crease gathered between Remus' eyebrows. He was completely confounded. Didn't they understand that his progress with Raven was now hanging by a thread? "Wha-?" He gasped in confusion, "NO!" He finally realised what they thought. "_No_. She asked me about Mannin!" He explained, hurriedly. "She asked me what he _looked like; _about his injuries ... She's gonna check up on it."

"Oh." There faces fell in sympathy for him.

"I'm sorry, Remus" Peter squeaked. Sirius looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Why?" he requested. "It isn't over yet!" He shot up and began stuffing things randomly into his bag. A few stray hexes were still being fired by determined students and so they were forced to keep their heads low. One caught one of James' books as he too got up and began forcing things into his bag, making it spontaneously sprout feathers. It too got snatched up and crammed into the bag. After a few seconds they were ready and they stood up, their wands raised, willing to fight their way out. They strode towards their enemy but they had given up before they had even reached them. James would have quietened them anyway but Lily was sitting near by and so, to keep up his good record, he didn't dare utter a spell. The others reluctantly followed his lead and they all marched out into the corridor. They turned, silently, into a hidden opening they all knew well, where they stopped.

"Time?" Sirius asked as soon as they were all hidden by the rather ugly form of some famous witch or other (they had never bothered to find out who).

"Half eight." Peter replied.

"That all? Time drags around here lately."

"If you were Mannin where would you be at half eight?" James questioned.

"I wish we had the map." Said Peter, longingly.

"Me too, but we haven't. So where would you be? The likeliest answer is the Hufflepuff common room, right?" He concluded, answering his own question.

"Yeah. We've got _no _hope." Remus said, more to himself than anyone else. He was wishing more than ever that he had just shut his big mouth. "We shouldn't do it anyway ... It's not right." Any other time he would have nothing to do with this but he couldn't let her find out. It would mean the end; and they hadn't even begun.

"If you don't want to ... If you want her to see you lied, then ..." James said slowly, "we won't do it, Moony."

Remus knew he was trying to manipulate him. The truth was, with this 'pact' he had with Lily, he was desperate to do something. Sirius didn't even attempt to deny it.

"C'mon, Moony." He begged. "I need to hex someone!" Remus scowled at him. He knew he wouldn't win so he gave up early.

"Nothing too big. Just so she sees that it happened."

"O.K." James agreed.

"It'll have to be bigger than what you came up with though."

"_Came up with_?" Remus spat.

"You don't wanna look like you lost. That's even worse than not fighting at all!" Sirius continued, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

"I just wish he'd actually done something wrong ..." Remus reflected, sadly. The others ignored him.

"It may have to wait 'till morning, Moony." James declared. Sirius looked at him as if he'd lost all faith in him.

"Are you mad? We're here now, aren't we? I am not going to sit back in there and do homework now!" He demanded, swinging his arm around to point through the wall in the direction of the common room.

"All right, all right! Got the taste for blood, Padfoot?" James asked. This comment made them all feel rather strange, and Sirius calmed down immediately. James was surprised at himself. He had practically called his best friend a murderer and what they were doing was a long way away from this. Sirius' parental link with the dark arts was nothing to be joked about. With a sympathetic look he quickly changed the subject. "We'll just check in the library and down by his common room and, if there's no sign of him, we'll take the cloak for an early morning visit."

"Let's go, then!" Peter said. He was the only one left out who was at all eager. They quietly agreed and ventured off to the library. They walked in a line across the breadth of the corridors, only moving from this formation when the varying widths of the castle's passageways forced them to. They walked methodically to the library, scanning everyone who passed them and asking anyone from Hufflepuff if they'd seen him. They received some odd looks in return but none of them cared. It was curious how, when one of them was in need, they united in this way against everyone else. The element of danger in their night time excursions had taught them to depend and look out for each other and this echoed into the day.

They reached the library with no more insight as to where Ivan Mannin was than before. The only friend of his who was known to them, Taddius Lasch, was also missing. They were longing more and more for possession of their map. This was just the sort of task it was suited to. Even with their detailed knowledge of Hogwarts, finding someone in it was difficult.

They walked into the library in the same determined silence in which they had walked through the corridors. There was only one path from here on - to split up and search. Each took a group of shelves and tables and continued the hunt. This was what it could now be described as. The moments of merely searching were over.

If anyone of those whom the Marauders had asked for Ivan's whereabouts had returned the information to him, making him nervous, by this display of theirs he had a right to be. Their animal characteristics were shown by the way they looked moved and spoke. Sirius continued to subconsciously sniff the air where his eyes could no longer help him and James barged in where Madame Pince wouldn't have let him. Remus couldn't help but think that this was getting out of hand. After they had searched to no avail he motioned them to him.

"Listen," he hissed, "there's no point in all of this." They all stared at him with a variety of odd expressions. He dropped his voice, watching Madame Pince. "She's only a girl. I don't even care - I'm not sacrificing someone's health just because I think that I _might_ have a chance with her. It's stupid and it's childish and, even if something did happen, she'd find out that i'm - about me and what we do so-"

"Get out!" Madame Pince cried. "No talking in the library! Get out!" She hurried them out of the library with more noise than they had first created. All this happened before Remus could speak another word.

"Re-" Sirius began once they had safely escaped Madame Pince. Remus stopped him in his tracks.

"If she finds out, she finds out! It's my own fault in the first place." He said, residedly. They respected his decision and walked guiltily back up to Griffindor Tower. All the previous spark and energy left them as they trudged forward sulkily.

"I've got to go and ... prefect duty." Remus groaned as they got closer to Griffindor Tower. He departed in the other direction and descended a staircase with no idea of where he was going They didn't argue with him but slid automatically into the common room and aimed straight for the boy's staircase, ignoring several attempts from people to steal their attention. Imogen was among these. She slipped slinkily into Sirius' path before he knew what had hit him. He paused from his haste, looked down at her hand and then up at her face. Her cropped brown hair was ruffled majestically and, though the impression was that it was effortless, not a hair was left out of place. She was blessed with fiercely wizened grey eyes which, if Sirius had cared to notice, now and then were flecked with golden strands which glittered in the sun. This colour changed with her emotions and, even now, the dull light of the common room highlighted some of it's hypnotic properties. Her face was encased by an innocently sweet smile which didn't quite reach these powerful eyes. These remained calculated and determined, a fire slowly burning in the depths of her pupils. Sirius didn't notice anything beyond her hand.

"Hello, Sirius." She breathed, tilting her head slowly to the side to more clearly gauge his reaction.

"Hello" He said as a line deepened between his eyebrows. He was confused and frustrated rather than displeased by her forwardness. He couldn't see what she wanted from him. He was busy. Surely she didn't think that what had happened meant something? It was him, Sirius Black. Had she been hiding her head for the past seven years from all of the rumours?

"So ... What are you doing tonight?" She asked, her hand now falling to fiddling with the clasp on his robes. He smiled slowly, gazing again from her hand to her face. In his second look he caught, over her shoulder, the image of James. He was leaning against the boy's door frame, rolling his eyes. As soon as he saw Sirius he began frantically tapping his wand against the wood, pointing it up the stairs.

"This and that," he eventually said to Imogen, plucking her hand cleanly from his robes, "see ya!" He skirted around her and shot off to where James was waiting.

"Bout time! I was gonna start writing messages in the air with my wand in a minute!" James exclaimed as Sirius halted, shifting his feet comically infront of him.

"Eh. She was trying it on." He said lazily, looking through a gap in his fringe. James shot him a knowing smile. They began their journey up to the dormitory, passed the fifth step at a steady pace and then burst into a run. They sprinted flat out to the top, in parts crawling on their hands and knees to quicken their speed on the slope. They reached the top, stumbled through their dormitory door and instantly formed a rough tangle of limbs upon the carpet as they collapsed, one after the other. This had become a bit of a habit for the. It couldn't be called so much a race as the staircase was far too narrow for one to overtake the other, meaning that the one who started first finished first. It was however, one of James and Sirius' little quirks; one that Peter found highly amusing. As they pulled themselves together Peter began clapping furiously. James gave him a look of approval but Sirius often though that, at these times, he somewhat resembled a performing house-elf.

"All right, Wormtail. It's never _that _funny!" He hissed out of annoyance. "You really should get out more." He added, rummaging in his trunk for a book. He found it somewhere near the bottom and threw himself onto the bed where he lay on his stomach, reading. Peter flushed but fell silent and returned to writing his letter. A few minutes were passed in silence, each busy with their own tasks, before James asked, "found anything good?" Sirius was casually reading something called _Useful Spells for Useful times_ by Osmond Odball. It described itself as being '_the comprehensive guide to mischief.' _So far they highly disagreed with this aspiration. Sirius had bought it over summer and so far nothing out of the ordinary (or at least as outstanding as to be used by the Marauders) had been found within it.

"Tarrantellegra, colloportus, furnunculus, sonourous ... First year stuff." He sighed, flicking through the pages and then tossing it back into his trunk. "Waste of galleons!"

"There's always something! The inspiration will find us, Padfoot. Don't worry," James said enthusiastically, "but, in the mean time, we've got Mannin to deal with."

"But- but I thought Remus didn't want-"

"He _said_ that he didn't want to do anything, Wormtail. It doesn't mean that that's what he really wants." James explained with a strange, mischievous smile on his face. "It's how Moony is - you know - he-"

"has a conscience." Sirius interrupted.

"He likes her, that's all, but his stupid morals keep getting in the way. It's this prefect thing I think, he was never like this before ... Talking of that, do you honestly think he's off doing prefect duty now?" He asked, turning to Peter "No." He said, answering his own question. "He's off somewhere moping and thinking that, if he'd just told the truth ...We'll have to get up early if we want to catch Mannin before breakfast and - er - one of us will have to check up on Delling but, apart from that, tomorrow's looking up!"

"Indeed!" Cried Sirius, sitting up hurriedly. "About time too!"

* * *

They woke, as planned, an hour earlier than usual, finding no need for any kind of alarm as the anticipation itself woke them. It was a crisp autumn morning and they dressed in complete silence. Remus was still fast asleep but it looked a troubled one. He tossed and turned so much behind his bed curtains that so much that a few times they thought that they had woken him. James finally scooped the invisibility cloak into his arms and they departed hesitantly, shuffling their feet slowly across the floor so as not to make any noise. _Admittedly_, James thought as they tiptoed down the stairs, _it was even more of a risky plan without Remus to back them up. Ivan could demonstrate that he got a bit beat up but there was no real link to Remus. The only solution_ (the only one that they would consider) _was to risk it. It didn't matter what happened either way now that Remus had given up. If it didn't work then nothing had really been lost_.

They reached the common room and were now able to speak but they had nothing to say. It was deserted apart from a few small groups of first years who had not yet adjusted to the time of breakfast. They moved out of the room and down the corridor, the Fat lady calling after them 'Up early aren't we? It's a long wait 'till breakfast!' They strode in the direction of the Great Hall. The three passed through corridors and staircases, weaving their way easily downwards. They arrived at the Entrance Hall in minutes and then turned their attentions to a small doorway leading off to the side. They passed through it and down the flights of stone steps, leading to the basement. To their right stood the painting which concealed the entrance to the kitchens and, a little further on, turned left into a vaulted corridor.

It was painted a golden yellow and the stone supports and floor gave it extra warmth. Here they waited. Positioned as they were, they could clearly see the stretch of wall which they knew, from past encounters, to hold the Hufflepuff entrance. They leant, close against the wall, so as not to be felt by anyone who might emerge from there. They remained there for a quarter of an hour as the activity around the room gradually increased, going over in their heads the plan which they had formulated, assigning charms and curses to their unbeknown victim.

The corridor soon became eclipsed in the noise of gossiping voices as a gaggle of girls fluttered past them, making the cloak bellow out infront of them and momentarily revealing their feet. Luckily the girls were too busy talking about 'what Harriet did last night' to notice a small detail like this. This conversation distracted the trio and, if it wasn't for James' sharp eye, they would have missed Ivan Mannin altogether. His tall, dark frame was walking close behind them, Taddius Lasch, a stocky, well-built boy, by his side. They were talking animatedly. James took out his wand from within his robes and pointed it at the seam of Ivan's bag. With a load ripping noise it burst open, spilling the contents onto the floor in a spatter of crashes and bangs. Quills, parchment, books and an ink well collided with the floor, rolled, opened and smashed across the stone. A black spattered mess lay at their feet.

"Not again!" Ivan exclaimed "I must get through ten bags a year!" He knelt down and began gathering up his things. Lasch stooped too, ready to help, but, before he'd touched as much as a quill, Mannin groaned "It's O.K. I'll meet you in the Hall." Lasch nodded

See you in a bit then." He left and, as he did so, tapped what appeared to be a remembrall with his foot and sent it skidding across the floor. _This is perfect_ Sirius thought as Mannin mended his bag with a simple _Reparo, _piled his things into it and then headed off, chasing the remembrall. They started this way ahead of him and contented themselves by kicking it a little further down, away from the Entrance Hall. It was like baiting a cat. He followed it to an empty stretch of hallway where the Marauders saw their chance.

"_Brivius Opticali_!" Sirius cried. Mannin flew backwards, clutching his eye. He didn't know what had happened nor where it had come from. James pointed his wand at his own throat. "_Remus, no_!" He screamed with all his might but it still only counted as a whisper. "Remus don't!" Echoed again through the halls. Mannin's head shot around in every direction, searching for Remus Lupin. He had pulled out his own wand and was ready for a duel.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Sirius shouted and watched as Mannin's wand flew from his hand and several feet down the corridor.

James returned his voice to normal and shouted "_Tagtailify_!" Ivan's face began to change. It was now becoming a stunning shade of cerise. It was becoming harder and harder to control their laughter as they looked at Mannin. He was now evolving into a nice shade of orange, his black eye too changing but to a vibrant blue. There was only one last thing to be done.

"_Petrificus Totalatus_." Sirius said. Mannin's limbs snapped together and he swayed back and forth like a board before swinging right over to lie on his back. They left him lying there and crept up to the Great Hall, stopping off at a tapestry to pack up the cloak.

"Someone'll find him in a minute." Sirius said, faithfully as they sat down at the Griffindor table.

"Yeah." Squeaked Peter.

"Nice use of the Brivius Charm." James commended Sirius. "Such a nice charm! Lasting humiliation with none of the pain!"

"Can't be bad." Shrugged Sirius as he piled rashers of bacon onto his plate. "He might be in the Hospital Wing for a while whilst Madame Pomfrey works out what that hex was but that's all the better, isn't it?"

"I've been waiting to use that one all year!" James smirked. "Very colourful."

"Certainly is."

They saw Remus approaching them and so they stopped. He appeared tired and weary. It looked as if the full moon had come early. He was slightly paler than usual and he had large bags under his eyes. At the sight of him they instantly came to the decision that they had done the right thing.


End file.
